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In Johnson, Yanks Are Wishing Upon a Star and Getting What They Want

These days, the Yankees know what it's like to wait for Santa Claus. They know they are getting something they have craved all year, a 6-foot-10 action figure with a bionic left arm and a turbo-charged fastball.

Within a few days, the Yankees should acquire Randy Johnson in a 10-player, three-team deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Procedural steps could mean the deal won't become official until the middle of the week, but all sides want and expect it to happen. All that is left is the waiting.

Yesterday, the teams finished adjusting the contract details of the 10 players involved, notably Johnson, who would go from Arizona to the Yankees; outfielder Shawn Green, who would go from the Dodgers to the Diamondbacks; and starting pitcher Javier Vazquez, who would go from the Yankees to the Dodgers.

Commissioner Bud Selig is aware of the pending deal, two baseball officials said, and the formal trade proposal should be sent to him today or tomorrow.

There is little doubt that Selig will approve the deal, which includes a relatively small amount of money -- about $3 million -- going from the Dodgers to the Yankees to pay for some of the salary of pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii, whom the Yankees would also acquire.

Johnson and Green must approve any deal, and both are expected to get contract extensions to do so. Johnson has longed to be traded to the Yankees since the summer. Green's former agent, Jeff Moorad, is the chairman-elect of the Diamondbacks, and Green has let it be known that he is open to the move to Arizona.

The Yankees would get Johnson and Ishii, a left-handed starter. The Diamondbacks would get Green, starting pitcher Brad Penny, reliever Yhency Brazoban and a pitching prospect, Brandon Weeden, from the Dodgers.

The Dodgers would seem to come out with less than the other teams. Besides Vazquez, they would get two Yankees prospects -- Dioner Navarro and Eric Duncan -- and an Arizona reliever, Mike Koplove.

The incentive for Los Angeles is that the trade would clear payroll space for the signing of the free-agent right fielder J.D. Drew. The Dodgers could soon sign Drew to a five-year contract worth $11 million to $12 million a season. They would probably hold off on announcing Drew's deal until they completed the trade of Green, who is owed $16 million next season.

The Johnson trade would also give the Dodgers more pieces to use in other deals, with the Chicago White Sox as a possible partner. The White Sox could dangle first baseman Paul Konerko, reliever Damaso Marte and starter Jon Garland.

The Diamondbacks have been convinced since Wednesday night that Green will be their new right fielder. They had agreed in principle on a two-year contract with the free-agent right fielder Jeromy Burnitz, but called it off.

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Burnitz's agent, Howard Simon, flew to Phoenix on Wednesday, and Burnitz was supposed to arrive the next day. But Simon learned from Arizona General Manager Joe Garagiola Jr. that the meeting was canceled.

"The Diamondbacks told us the thing was off, because of the Johnson deal," Simon said. "It was not a very fun experience to go out there after we had talked to them for maybe six weeks. They were very enthusiastic and had expressed very strong interest in Jeromy."

Moorad, not Garagiola, negotiated the deal for Arizona, creating the impression that he had an informal pipeline to Green because of his prior relationship.

"They've got some strange things going on there," Simon said. "Joe Garagiola is a really good guy, but sometimes guys get turned into a messenger instead of a G.M. It was so poorly handled, so botched. The only thing I could tell Garagiola is, 'It's obvious the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing here."'

The Diamondbacks opened the winter meetings last week in Anaheim, Calif., by spending $78 million on two free agents -- third baseman Troy Glaus and pitcher Russ Ortiz -- contracts that were generally criticized as excessive.

But Arizona could not persuade Johnson to back off his desire to be traded. After the season, the Diamondbacks told him they wanted to keep him for the next three years at a total of $24 million. But he is being paid $16 million this coming season, so their offer amounted to a two-year, $8 million contract extension, a substantial pay cut.

Johnson has no contractual right to demand a trade, and the Diamondbacks, who essentially gave away Curt Schilling to the Boston Red Sox last off-season, were determined not to make a bad deal.

The acquisition of Green, Penny and Brazoban would fill holes in their rotation, bullpen and outfield.

A problem would arise if Penny failed his physical, which he expects to take next week, he said in an interview with ESPN Radio on Friday. Penny had a nerve problem in his arm last August, but that injury was no secret, and the Diamondbacks were not expected to flunk him.

Johnson will be 42 next September. He regularly receives synthetic gel injections in his right knee, and probably would require a two-year contract extension without much, if any, drop in pay.

But he also is headed for the Hall of Fame and nearly won his sixth Cy Young award last season.

The Yankees have the money, the motivation, and plenty of room for him under George Steinbrenner's tree.

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A version of this article appears in print on December 19, 2004, on Page 8008001 of the National edition with the headline: BASEBALL; In Johnson, Yanks Are Wishing Upon a Star and Getting What They Want. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe